A BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE 



DEVOTED TO THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF BIRDS 



Official Organ of The Audubon Societies 



Vol. XVI May-June, 1914 No. 3 



Impressions of the Voices of Tropical Birds 



By LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES 



Illustrated by the author 



FOURTH PAPER— ANT-THRUSHES AND THEIR ALLIES, AND WOODHEWERS 



TO NORTHERN perceptions and training, the ghostly, long-legged 

 forest ground-runners, generally known as Ant-thrushes, make an 

 immediate and lasting appeal. The many species of Grallaria, For- 

 micarius and Chamaza, finding their most congenial surroundings among 

 the tree-ferns and moss-filled undergrowth of the wooded slopes, at once 

 impress the student with their presence, but leave him, after however long 

 an acquaintance, with little more knowledge of their lives and doings than he 

 had on first hearing their invitation to the game of hide-and-seek they so 

 skilfully and persistently play. 



They are all strictly terrestrial and, on the rare occasions when they fly, 

 they keep so close to the ground that their dangling feet almost touch. Indeed, 

 I suspect that they fly only upon some special stimulus, ordinarily going about 

 on foot. 



The commonest and most generally distributed species in Colombia is 

 Grallaria ruficapilla. It is about as big as a Robin, but is almost round, stubby- 

 tailed, big-eyed, and comically long-legged. But while it was really a common 

 bird, and its whistled compra pan was almost constantly in our ears in all 

 three ranges of the Andes, not over six or seven were taken. Certainly nine 

 out of every ten efforts to see the author ended blindly, even though they 

 respond immediately to a whistled imitation of their notes. But so silent 

 is their approach, and so densely are their ground haunts veiled by ferns, 

 large fallen leaves, earth-plants and other visual obstructions, that they 

 may call almost from between your feet with impunity, while with pounding 

 heart and eager eyes you fail to penetrate the veil of intervening leafage. 

 I have usually found that, while all these ground-running birds answer eagerly 

 to a call, they are very easily satisfied on seeing its author, and usually the 

 response, now almost under foot, suddenly fails, and the little feathered 

 mouse that gave it swiftly and silently trots away after one quick look at the 



